Large-scale nanopatterning of metal surfaces by target-ion induced plasma sputtering (TIPS)

Abstract

Target-ion induced plasma sputtering (TIPS) is a one-step self-organization nanofabrication method in which a conventional DC magnetron sputter with a negative substrate bias voltage is used. This process successfully leads to ion-induced sputtering on metal substrates, producing large-scale nanopatterns on various metal surfaces. We demonstrated that the obtained nanopatterns have size-tunability from nano- to micro-scales by modulating the negative substrate voltage. This large-scale, bottom-up nanofabrication technique will accelerate nanopattern applications in biomedical, chemical or magnetic devices through large surface-to-volume ratios and unique surface topography of induced ripple patterns on metals.